


Doctors Get Hurt Sometimes Too

by beeniehat56



Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, James T. Kirk & Leonard "Bones" McCoy Friendship, Post-Fight
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-26
Updated: 2020-11-26
Packaged: 2021-03-10 06:48:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,693
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27719101
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/beeniehat56/pseuds/beeniehat56
Summary: Doctor McCoy is injured on an away mission after being held captive with some other crew members on a hostile planet. After the rescue mission, Kirk comes to the realization that his best friend is not invincible.
Comments: 3
Kudos: 27
Collections: Bones McCoy H/C





	Doctors Get Hurt Sometimes Too

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone! This is just a little oneshot I wrote a while ago, featuring the friendship between Captain Kirk and Doctor McCoy and showing Kirk that doctors can indeed get hurt too. Enjoy :)

The chaos of finding the missing crew members had become an entire ship wide event, with every single officer and ensign putting forth all of their efforts to help. There were nineteen men and women stuck in the holding cells on the surface, heavily guarded and being used solely for ransom. In the beginning, the beings of the mysterious planet had offered peace and compliance, informing Captain Kirk that they had a few problems with their city’s power generator and a raging disease that had taken down a good chunk of their people. 

With a carefully hand picked away team, Kirk sent his Chief Engineer, Montgomery Scott and his Chief Medical Officer, Doctor McCoy, down to the surface to assist. A medical and engineering squad joined them as well as a few from the science and linguist departments. At the first scheduled check in time, Bones and Scotty called up reporting that everything was still fine. Kirk acknowledged and headed down to the mess hall for his lunch. By the second check in, he had not heard from either party. After several attempts at contacting one or the other, Kirk himself was contacted by the city’s leader, explaining he had taken Kirk’s crew as hostages until he relinquished his ship to them. 

Captain Kirk could not help but hate himself a little bit as he stood outside of the building where his crew had been held hostage, watching the sky as shuttles descended to load up the injured after one hell of a firefight. Scotty was arguing with the nurse who was forcing him to sit down in the shuttle, all the while he continued to insist that he should be helping move the injured. When he looked over and met eyes with Kirk, the Captain gave him a stern look and Scotty reluctantly closed his mouth and slunk back into the shuttle. He turned right as Nurse Chapel was approaching him. 

“May I have a hand with Doctor McCoy, sir?” She asked and Kirk nodded, leading her over to the wall where they had laid those who were unconscious. Kirk crouched down at his side, then looked up at Chapel. 

“Do you want legs or torso?” 

Chapel looked over McCoy once then stepped over to his legs. “If you can raise him up first, I will be able to get his lower half.”

Kirk positioned himself right behind McCoy’s head, looping his arms under the doctor’s and then locking his fingers together over his chest. Using the muscles in his legs, Kirk started to stand, nodding to Chapel to grab his legs. She stepped in between them and hooked an arm on each leg, rising up with Kirk. “You’re stronger than you look, Christine,” Kirk commented with a slight chuckle, walking backwards toward the shuttle door. 

“All in good practice, Captain.” She adjusted her hold on Bones’ legs, coming to a stop when Kirk did as he turned to look behind him then started backing into the shuttle. They got completely in and Kirk went right for the back corner, lowering himself and Bones to the floor. 

When he was completely down, Kirk thanked Nurse Chapel then leaned down, brushing the doctor’s bangs away from his forehead, away from one of his gash wounds, and then flinching a little when he drew his fingers back blood-stained. As a few more crew members were laid down, Kirk stood and made his way off, knowing it was his job to remain behind until the last crew member had been loaded. Fortunately the process did not take long and Kirk was able to hop into the cockpit of the shuttle he had placed Bones on. 

As he had expected, Medical was a madhouse. They just barely had enough room, though those who were brought in awake and moving were hurrying to get out so there was more room for those who were unawake. It was also hassling that they were lacking their CMO, who was currently laying on the bed closest to his office, being administered various hyposprays as Doctor M’Benga started cutting through his shirt to reveal his dark purple and blue chest. Kirk flinched again, still standing at the head of the bed out of the way. 

“It looks like his rib cage is nearly crushed.” M’Benga observed, holding his tricorder over Bones’s chest. “Compacting the lungs and heart pretty severely. I will need to get in there and-”

As the doctor was talking, Bones gave a sharp lurch, making a noise almost like a cough and suddenly his vitals were screaming. Kirk turned wide eyed to M’Benga, who was demanding a breathing tube. “One of the ribs punctured his lung. We will need to do immediate surgery. I will alert you when we are finished, Captain.” With that, his best friend was taken away to the closest surgical room, leaving Kirk standing where the bed had been, finding himself in a situation where he had never been before. 

_ Since when does the DOCTOR get this hurt…? _ He could not help but think while the chaos continued to bustle around him. 

* * *

“I want someone to tag a warning label on that planet,” Kirk was saying as he sat waywardly in his chair on the bridge. “So no one else has to deal with that.” 

“As one cannot attach a warning label to an entire planet, I would suggest that you note it in your log for Startfleet to see,” Spock commented from behind where he sat at his station. Kirk turned his chair, seeing that Spock was facing his console, peering down at his screen. 

“Already ahead of you, Spock.” Kirk turned back to face the front. “Why would they even want our ship? What the hell was that all about? I lost count of how many times I said ‘no’ within that forty-eight hour time frame.” 

Sulu turned his chair around, facing the Captain and leaning back against it. “Superior technology perhaps? One grain of truth to their stories is that they had been having a lot of trouble successfully reaching warp speed. Let alone creating a craft that leaves their atmosphere and actually stays in one piece.” 

“I was planning on finding Scotty and asking him what he saw.” Kirk scrubbed a hand down his face. “Nineteen missing, nineteen found and recovered. At least there were no casualties…”

“Seeing as there are currently six in emergency surgery at the moment, Captain, I would not make that confirmation as of yet.” This time when Kirk turned around to look at Spock, the Vulcan was looking right back at him, as neutral as can be. 

Giving him a sour smile, Kirk nodded slowly. “Thank you, Spock, for your unwavering logical comments. I have a feeling that our six crew members in surgery will come out fine… or at least alive. Then I can file the official report and slap on my warning label.”

When he turned back again, both Chekov and Sulu were facing him. “Where are we headed now, Captain?” Chekov asked curiously, his hand resting on his console, waiting to put coordinates in. 

“Second star to the right, straight on past midnight,” Kirk muttered, ignoring the confused looks he received. He shook his head and stood up, coming down to stand between the two. “Sorry. I guess just… keep going the way we’re going and we’ll keep an eye out along the way.”

“I believe that reference was from…  _ Peter Pan _ , da?” Chekov asked as Kirk continued to stand between them, eyes locked on the viewscreen. 

He chuckled a little bit. “Good job, Mister Chekov.” 

“ _ Medical to Bridge _ .”

Kirk spun around and sat in his chair, pressing the button on the armrest. “Kirk here.”

“ _ We need you to come down here, sir. It is urgent. _ ” Kirk acknowledged the doctor and hopped off the chair, hurrying to the turbolift. Leaving his station, Spock slipped in right before the door slid shut. They rode down in silence and stepped out together, matching strides as they walked down the hall to Medical. 

As soon as Kirk and Spock entered through the doors, Doctor M’Benga swooped in, holding his PADD out toward them. “Two casualties. Four of the six in surgery are in recovery.” Kirk took the PADD, reading the names of the two dead and sighing quietly. He had been hoping to avoid including any deaths in his report. He handed the PADD back and looked over at Spock, unable to tell what he was thinking for once. 

“Can I see Doctor McCoy?” The Captain asked, taking a look around sickbay, his eyes finally landing on the doctor’s unconscious form, a breathing tube running just under his nose. 

M’Benga threw a glance over at the CMO and nodded. “Sure. He likely will not be awake for another couple of hours, we have him under heavy sedation so that he will not wake and start breathing too hard. He needs to heal… Don’t touch his chest.” 

“Right… Thank you. Go ahead and discuss the casualties reports with Commander Spock.” Kirk left the two of them, walking up to McCoy’s bedside and automatically reaching down to brush his hair off his forehead. He was pleased to see the large cut had been stitched up. Looking around, Kirk grabbed the nearest chair and pulled it up, sitting down beside the bed. He watched the Doctor’s chest rise and fall a bit unsteadily, and heard the wheezing with each breath. He imagined McCoy would be out of commission for a good minute, and fought back a grin at the argument he would be having with the man once he was awake. 

* * *

Something was nudging against his head. Kirk made a face as he started to come out of his sleep, feeling the nudging get a bit harder. Just before he lifted his head, something tugged a bit sharply on his hair. Kirk jerked up, blinking the sleep from his eyes and yawning. He must have fallen asleep with his head resting on the edge of the bed. He glanced around, seeing that Spock was gone and Sick Bay was a little darker and quieter. 

“This isn’t… right…” a hoarse and breathless voice said and Kirk looked down, meeting familiar hazel eyes. Bones was giving him a slightly confused and somehow still annoyed look. Though Kirk had just come to believe his face always looked somewhat annoyed, no matter that mood he is in. 

“What’s not right?” Kirk inquired, scooting his chair closer so that Bones would not have to strain his voice too much. 

The CMO indicated himself first then Kirk. “The roles are reversed. You’re supposed to be here, not me. Pitching some little bitch fit and bleedin’ everywhere… Why’m I even here?”

“Because for once, I didn’t get hurt.” Kirk half smiled when Bones rolled his eyes. “Hard to believe right?”

Bones didn’t comment, just turning his head to look up at the ceiling. His eyes fixated on the ceiling for a few moments then he shook his head. “It happened really fast. I know you’ll want a report soon… I’ll do my best but I can’t remember too much.”

“That’s probably just your old age.” Kirk teased, leaning back in the chair and crossing his arms over his chest. 

“Bite me.” Bones huffed irritably, making a face as he attempted to shift around in the bed. “Did a damn shuttle land on me…? I can barely breathe.”

Kirk laid a hand on his shoulder, pushing him back down gently. “Honestly, Bones, I have no idea. You were already practically crushed when we found you, when we got you to Medical, you must have choked or something… you jerked and one of your ribs punctured your lung.” Kirk could not help but be a little amused at the horrified look that crossed the doctor’s face briefly. “You should be fine now but I was warned to not touch your chest.”

“Hey… make yourself useful and go grab my medical bag on my desk, bring it here.” Bones pointed toward his office door. 

Kirk gave him a questioning look but got up and went into the office, grabbed the bag and came back to sit down. Bones took the bag and opened it, digging through until he found his tricorder. He dropped the bag onto Kirk’s lap and turned the device on, holding it up over his chest and leaning up a bit to see the readings. 

“Bones!” Kirk snatched the tricorder away and turned it off. “Stop scanning yourself and be a patient for once. M’Benga said you will be fine. You just need time to rest and recover.”

“Give that back, Jim, I’m not done.” McCoy reached for it but Kirk scooted his chair back just far enough to be out of his reach. “God dammit, Jim.”

Kirk brought the tricorder to his eyes, looking it over. “You would have tried to do surgery on yourself if you’d been awake, I bet. You say I’m a bad patient, but you are way worse than me.” He grabbed the bag and dropped the tricorder into it, standing and taking it back to the office. When he returned, he pointed a finger at Bones. “Do you need a Melvaran vaccine, too, Doctor?”

“If you bring a hypospray anywhere near my neck, I swear to god Jim, your end will be arriving very quickly.”

“If you try to do that, you’ll just hurt yourself again.”

“So help me God, I will take you down with me.” Bones closed his eyes, focusing on his breathing for a moment then cracked an eye open. “Go to bed, Jim. You need to sleep, you look exhausted.”

Kirk shook his head nonchalantly. “I got a good nap before you woke me. I’ll be fine for a while,” he waved a hand, bringing his chair back. 

Bones eyed him a little more closer. “I see those bags under your eyes. I know you worried incessantly about all of us. Just go to your bed and lay down for a bit. We don’t need you collapsing on the bridge or something stupid like that.” Bones was quiet a moment and then snorted amusedly. “You’d tumble off the balcony in engineering then we will both be stuck in here.”

“That happened once, Bones, and it was not my fault.” Kirk brought his hands together and put them between his knees, leaning closer to the doctor. “I can sit here until you are ready to be back on your feet! I can sleep when I’m dead… a second time.” 

“Again. You were  _ barely _ dead. Stop being so melodramatic, your life isn’t all that interesting.” Bones reached out and absently patted his friend’s knee. “I will be fine by myself for a few hours. I’ll probably go back to sleep myself.”

Kirk made a face at him. “You just want me to leave.” He laughed when Bones shrugged, raising his eyebrows. “Whatever, Bones. I will be back in exactly five hours, so you better enjoy it while you can. Maybe I’ll even surprise you and show up sooner! You’d never see it coming.”

“Oh, but I would hear it.” Bones half smiled at him. “I’ll see you in five hours,  _ sir _ .” 

Kirk nodded firmly and stood up, putting the chair back against the wall. “In all seriousness, when I do come back, I imagine Doctor M’Benga will have some rest and recovery orders for you. I expect you will follow them. Even if you have to stay in your quarters for a week or two. We need our Chief Medical Officer in top shape.”

Bones sighed heavily and then winced, wheezing a little more. “Nah… Nah, I’ll be fine by tomorrow.”

“Yeah, sure.” Kirk stepped away from the bed then paused. “I was… really worried about you. I am glad you are alright, Bones. This ship needs you.”

“Don’t be a baby, just say it.” McCoy raised an eyebrow and smirked a bit. “So do you. No one else is gonna put up with all your bullshit.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever. You’re a pretty decent friend.” Kirk laughed and gave him a small wave. “Night, Bones.”

“Night, kid.” 

  
  



End file.
